WinTD Version 4.03
Version 4.03 of WinTD is now shipping. This is a minor update that fixes a few bugs, and adds several handy features, including:
- A "most recently used files" list that makes it easy to re-open recent files.
- The ability to update Master Player Records directly from the USCF's web site.
- Improved support for exporting player data to HTML files for posting on the Web.
- The ability to scan your copy of the USCF supplement to locate ID numbers for players already entered in your Master file.
This is the first official release since 4.01. However, a few development copies labeled 4.02 have been circulated over the past year, so we are calling this official release "4.03" to avoid confusion with any of those development versions.
Licensed users of Version 4.0 or 4.01 for Windows can download a free update from our website (4.0 users will need to update 4.01 first--see 4.01 update).
Windows or Mac users can also order an update on CD--the cost is $10 for users with WinTD 4.0, $40 for users with Version 3.0 or older.
Version 4.0
For users with Version 3 or older, see below for a list of the improvements made in Version 4. For general information on WinTD, please see the About WinTD and List of Features pages. If you'd like to see the features that were added with Version 3, click on the Version 3 Features page.
For Large Tournaments
The principal changes made to help with larger tournaments have been the addition of a scripted merge function, which pulls sections from multiple computers together into a single tournament file; a co-ordination function which highlights players in a tournament file who aren't in a master file; and an import operation which pulls players into various sections from a spreadsheet file.
For Smaller Tournaments
The main emphasis in Version 4 is the improvement of support for smaller tournaments. Major improvements in this area include:
- One important new feature is the Section-Divide Up function, which takes a group of players and divides them into sections of a set size (quads or hexes, for instance). You're given two main options for how to section the players (grouped according to rating or grouped to roughly equalize average ratings), and you can handle odd players by creating a larger section at the top, the bottom, or spreading the shortage among the sections.
- Round robin tournaments are handled more flexibly. We learned (from hard personal experience in the SuperNationals blitz tournament), that WinTD version 3 was not very good at dealing with RR's which were run on paper. Version 4 has been changed to allow the TD to set the pairing numbers, and it has a specialized game window format which makes it easy to key in results from a paper cross table.
- We've added several new pairing systems which are mainly used for small club tournaments: hybrid round robin-Swiss (pairings come from round robin tables, but Swiss principles determine the order of the rounds), Scheveningen (all players from one "team" play all from another), adjacent pairings (1 plays 2, 3 plays 4, etc.).
Prize Distribution
Another feature that many TD's requested was the ability to compute money prize distributions. This can be a rather tricky operation, which the TD may have to do under "time pressure" as the winners await. Handling all cases of this correctly isn't just hard for the TD; it also turns out to be rather difficult to program. We have devised a method which can properly allocate complex prize schemes with a mix of rating and non-rating based categories.
More Details
Below is a more detailed list of the new features and enhancements in Version 4:
- Now available as a 32 bit application for greater speed. Pairing large sections takes about 25% of the time required before. (We also provide a 16 bit version for those who still are using Windows 3.1 computers).
- Computes distribution of money prizes.
- Imports player information from a spreadsheet file, including section assignment and bye processing.
- Imports a full section from a cross table on a spreadsheet or text file.
- Can produce FIDE rating reports and compute (tentative) FIDE norms.
- Allows automatic assignment of a player to a specific board number.
- Allows choice of USCF, FIDE and 2P rating systems for posting or master file maintenance. Rating formulas are provided in a DLL so the formulas can be kept up to date.
- Provides improved ability to maintain a master file, showing which players from a tournament aren't in the master.
- Can search USCF database for close matches of names.
- For team tournaments, can fill in players' names on the score sheet.
- Includes a special section type for "bughouse" tournaments, which simplifies combining individual entries into teams.
- Can automatically divide players into sections of similar size, grouping by rating, or grouping to achieve similar strengths in each.
- More pairing styles including hybrid round robin Swiss and Scheveningen.
- Improved support for round robin tournaments. Cross tables can be printed in the standard RR table. Pairing numbers can be assigned by the TD. The full schedule can be shown in a convenient form for transcribing results from paper cross tables.
- Game windows can be configured to split out information for more flexible web posting.
- Configurable "please wait" message for byes.
- Printed cross tables can be sorted on a wider range of keys.
- Wall charts, cross tables and standings can be computed through a requested number of rounds, making it easier to write articles about the tournament.
- Prize list generation for non-monetary awards has been made more flexible.
- Includes the changes to the pairing rules included in the forthcoming revision of the USCF rule book.
In addition, there have been quite a few minor improvements: better formatted dialog boxes, using tabs for the more complex ones. Some additional preference items have been added, and some items which formerly were preferences have been found to be better incorporated as flags for the tournaments or sections.
